Deployment of energy efficient appliances and distributed renewable energy to mitigate climate change and enhance energy access
Student name: Ms Gargi Sathe
Guide: Mr Sapan Thapar
Year of completion: 2017
Host Organisation: Shakti Sustainable Energy Foundation
Supervisor (Host Organisation): Mr Deepak Gupta
Abstract: Climate change is the burning issue for the entire world today. The whole world is experiencing
significant impact of climate change in some or the other form. To address the issue the countries
have entered into Paris Agreement at the COP21.
The key driver of climate change is greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Electric power generation
accounts for around 30% of the total greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. Realizing this fact,
the world is making efforts to move towards cleaner power generation technologies and to
promote energy efficiency to bring down GHG emissions.
The present thesis makes an attempt to analyze the impact of energy efficiency measures (in end
use appliances) and deployment of renewable energy (off-grid) associated with residential sector
on CO 2 emissions. Future energy consumption has been estimated by building pessimistic,
intermediate and optimistic scenarios to evaluate the impact of energy efficiency measures on
energy demand and thus ultimately on CO 2 emissions. Impact of distributed renewable energy
has been evaluated by considering government targets and plans as guideline for progress. While
evaluating impact on CO 2 emissions, avoided coal based thermal power generation capacity and
associated investment has also been calculated to get an overall idea of inclusive savings.
The present study also includes the discussion around ‘Efficiency for Access’ concept which
reveals the potential of energy efficiency to enable energy access.
It has been found that, although the thesis is limited to residential sector, energy efficiency in
end-use appliances and off grid renewable energy, the estimation of avoided CO 2 emissions is
significant. Hence, it is clear that the actual impact of energy efficiency measures and
deployment of renewable energy on CO 2 emissions will be of great extent. Therefore, it can be
concluded that energy efficiency and renewable energy can act as a panacea to the climate
change crisis, providing a guaranteed path towards sustainable development.
Key words: Climate change, Energy efficiency, Distributed renewable energy, CO 2 emissions,
Efficiency for Access
